


be a body

by reconquer



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 13:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2429996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reconquer/pseuds/reconquer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time she does it, Korra cuts her hair shorter than she intends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	be a body

**Author's Note:**

> pretty short but i wanted to get it posted before the actual episode airs! title is grimes  
> EDIT: now that the ep is out this is completely wrong + moot but HEY at least i tried

The first time she does it, Korra cuts her hair shorter than she intends.

She chops it off with a blade she found once she gets to the Earth Kingdom mainland. The uneven ends brush along her jawline as she writes her father her first letter. She flicks them back and ignores the pang of pain in her shoulder. She misses Naga.

The back of her neck is too open. She gets beat up after trying to steal food and the man’s thick, callused fingertips leave bruises back there. She tries not to think about how soothing Katara’s healing would feel right now.

She gets a job an earthbending ring in the slums. She tries to convince herself that she’s losing on purpose, but she gets hit a little too hard and bleeds a little too much for that to be completely true. She doesn’t see Tarrlok’s silhouette when her vision blurs. She doesn’t.  

She shacks up with another girl in the ring, a lean, pale girl from the countryside up north. The girl cuts Korra’s hair as a favor for chasing away the rats around their tiny apartment. The hair on the floor is too dark to be Jinora’s.

She wakes up screaming that night, blindly kicking at the sheets until her feet slam onto the floor, only somewhat free of their confines. Ghost pain shivers across her pelvis and legs and the memory of Pema’s hands helping her into her wheelchair fade so quickly she’s not sure if they even happened in real life, let alone her dream. Zaheer’s face stays glued to the backs of her eyelids, though, and she doesn’t sleep anymore that night.

She starts seeing the image of her eighteen-year-old self in everything.  First it’s just mirrors, then pools of water, then in her blood as it drips out her nose and into the dirt floor of the cage. She’s desperately trying to run from herself, but she can barely turn around without seeing a wisp of long, thick hair or the glint of chains.

The first time it attacks her is the first time she’s firebent in four months. It gets her after a fight in the ring, pins her against a brick wall and Korra reacts in a panic, thrashing her limbs and shrieking. She grabs its face and cries as she watches its skin melt off.

Korra’s not sure how or when she lost consciousness, but when she wakes she’s on the ground and bent at a funny angle and there’s a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey! Are you okay?” Korra groans and opens her eyes. A girl hovers above her and her black hair is tickling Korra’s bare shoulder.  

“Asami?”

The girl furrows her brows and Korra’s vision comes back into focus. She’s not pretty enough, she’s not wearing any make-up, she’s just someone’s daughter. Korra rests her face on the cool pavement and tries to push away the searing pain in her chest.

“Uh, I’m not—”

“I know.” Korra rasps out her words between fast breaths. She knows she’s going to start hyperventilating soon and doesn’t want this stranger around to see _the Avatar_ have a panic attack. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

She stumbles home in the dark. She knows she looks a mess, tears leaving tracks on her grimy cheeks and scorch marks covering her palms.

When she gets home she cuts her hair like Mako used to wear it. The bangs are too short and she thinks that if she had Air Nomad tattoos they would be fully visible now.

She sees it a few more times. She doesn’t know if she’s hallucinating or not, but the bruises are most definitely real. Her hair grows out fast and she starts getting recognized. She insists that she’s not the Avatar Korra. She’s not. Not anymore, anyway.


End file.
